Scheming
by IrisRaylene
Summary: Lucy would like to be friends with Juvia. But how is she supposed to do that when Juvia's constantly calling her "Love Rival' and challenging her to duels for Gray's love? Well, by getting Gray to confess his feelings for Juvia as well. Now if only Gray weren't too stubborn to admit that to anyone. Wait...what's that? Juvia has a cold? Perfect. Gruvia fluff, Lucy/Juvia friendship.


_Author's Note:__ Hello everyone, I am IrisRaylene and this is my very first attempt at a Fairy Tail fanfiction, so I really hope you all like it. I actually got the idea a while back, while I was pulling an all-nighter, writing three essays (all due the next day…I feel so ashamed OTL). The idea was entirely unhelpful at the time, but I thought it would be a shame to forget it. Sleep deprivation: great for fanfiction ideas, not great for…for anything else, really… -_-  
Anyway, this is a little bit of Gruvia fluff and some Lucy/Juvia friendship. Takes place whenever you want it to, really. I hope you enjoy reading it and I apologize if anyone seems OOC. I'm working on it._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. But, then again, did anyone really think that I did?_

**-x- Cold -x-**

"Is it just me, or was that job way too easy?" Lucy stretched her arms up over her head. "Did Mira really need to ask both of us to come?"

"Juvia also thinks it was strange. Juvia alone would have been enough to handle this without Love Rival." The blue-haired water mage nodded in agreement.

Earlier that day Mira had called Lucy over and asked her for a special favor. She said that she had a friend in a nearby town who had been having trouble recently with a group of thieves and, if Lucy could help out with that, she would be really grateful. Lucy had no problem accepting. It was almost rent time again, after all, and she was still a little short on funds. Lucy had been about to leave for the job when, possibly as an afterthought, Mira asked Juvia to go as well. Two is better than one, she said, wishing them luck.

Mira's friend, as it turned out, was the owner of a small café a few towns over. And the so-called thieves that had been hanging around the café were nothing more than some teen shoplifters that liked causing problems for other people. Getting rid of them hadn't taken much effort at all. Sure Juvia had put most of them in a Water Lock and shaken them around, and maybe Lucy had kicked a couple more of them in the head, but the kids had pretty much given up as soon as two beautiful girls started threatening them.

Grateful for their help, Mira's friend offered to treat the two Fairy Tail mages to lunch, in addition to the promised reward.

"Juvia should be eating lunch with Gray-sama, not Love Rival." Juvia sighed.

"Hey, it's not like I made you come." Lucy was getting really tired of being called Juvia's 'Love Rival'. It wasn't even sort of true. She was definitely not interested in Gray like that. But explaining that to Juvia was a long and tedious process. So far, she'd had no success.

Lucy had hoped that the two of them could be friends. Juvia was nice (when she wasn't accusing Lucy of trying to steal 'her Gray-sama') and a really good ally (when she wasn't challenging Lucy to 'a duel for her Gray-sama's love'). Juvia's belief that Lucy was in love with Gray seemed to be the only obstacle in the way of their friendship.

This was particularly annoying since, as far as Lucy could tell, Gray had feelings for Juvia as well. Not that he would ever admit to that. Men and their pride… Lucy sighed, shaking her head. She would never understand men. If Gray really did like Juvia, then this whole situation was completely pointless.

But what was the best way to resolve this misunderstanding? There had to be something that she could do about this. She couldn't possibly live the rest of her life being addressed as Love Rival. That would be really unfair to Juvia and Gray too…

Suddenly, Lucy got an idea. A wonderful sort of idea. It would definitely take care of all of their problems. Now all she had to do was find a way to get Juvia to agree to it. Lucy had a feeling that would be the most difficult part…

"Gray-sama…" Juvia sighed wistfully, holding her cold glass of ice water against her cheek. "Juvia will return soon…"

"Juvia, I just thought of something good!" The water mage stopped and glanced at Lucy. "I want to make a deal with you."

"A deal?" The water mage frowned. "Juvia will not give Gray-sama to Love Rival."

"For, like, the millionth time, I'm not interested. I was actually thinking something more like this. If you can promise to stop calling me 'Love Rival' all the time, then I will help you get a date with Gray." That caught her attention. Juvia seemed to be considering that for a minute.

"You…would really help Juvia?"

"Of course! I'd be happy to help you."

"Really?" A small smile appeared on her face. "Juvia can go on a date with Gray-sama?! How?" How? Lucy hadn't quite gotten that far yet.

"Well…about that...maybe we could-" She was cut off by a small noise from the water mage. "Juvia...did you just sneeze?"

"Of course not!" The girl protested. "Juvia does not-achoo!" She sneezed again, louder this time. Lucy frowned and reached across the table, putting a hand on Juvia's forehead.

"You have a fever. Juvia, did you get a cold?"

"Juvia is a water mage!" She sounded offended…and a little sick. "Water mages do not get-achoo…Juvia might have a cold…"

"That's it!" Lucy leapt to her feet, clapping her hands together in excitement. "I know exactly what we're going to do! Oh this will be so much fun…"

"Should Juvia be concerned?"

**-x-**

Lucy returned to the guild hall by late afternoon. Even though the town where her job had been was an hour and a half away, she and Juvia had been sent to take care of a group of thieves. They had left midmorning, so no one in the guild, Mira included, had expected them back before the next morning. Or, at least, late that night.

"Lucy! You're back!" Happy flew into her like a little blue missile. "Did you bring me a fish?"

"Hi Happy, and no, sorry, I don't have any fish." As Lucy went to return the pouting blue cat to his owner, she passed Gray (intentionally, of course).

"Hey Lucy, wasn't your job supposed to take longer?" The ice mage waved nonchalantly.

"Yeah…we, uh, returned early." She kept her tone flat and tried to answer as ambiguously as possible. Gray glanced around the guild hall. If Lucy had returned, then Juvia should be back too, right? And if she was back, the first thing she would do was hunt Gray down and ask if he missed her and if they could go on a job alone together next time.

But that didn't happen. In fact, Gray couldn't see Juvia anywhere. That was a little…strange.

"Where's Juvia? She didn't come back with you?" Gray was starting to feel a bit worried, but was trying his best not to show it. There was no way he could ever let that flame brain Natsu figure out he liked Juvia. Gray would never hear the end of it if he did.

"Ah…" Lucy put Happy down on the counter and frowned. "About that…Mira, Juvia's going to need a little time off from guild work. I don't think she'll be able to take any jobs for a while…" Mira looked surprised.

"That's fine of course, she can take as much time as she needs. But is Juvia okay?" Mira was certain that the job she sent them on hadn't been that dangerous. And surely Juvia wouldn't have gotten hurt that badly. She was strong enough to be S-class after all.

"Oh, you know, she will be…" Another ambiguous answer. Just as she had planned, Gray seemed to be frozen, his concern for the water mage written all over his face. Swallowing a laugh, Lucy continued. "But she is all alone in her room right now. I hope she'll be okay. Maybe I should go check on her later? Oh, but I have to meet with the landlady tonight to pay rent. Could anyone possibly go…" Before she had even finished her sentence, Gray had jumped to his feet and was already racing out of the guild hall.

"Lucy, what happened to Juvia?" Mira asked.

"Ah, she has a cold." Lucy smirked. "She really will need a few days off. It's a pretty bad one. She has a fever and was sneezing the whole way back."

"A…cold?" She sighed. "You made it sound…"

"Sound like Juvia was terribly injured on the job? Yeah, that was kinda the point." Lucy glanced in the direction of the guild hall's main door. Mira suddenly caught on. What a terribly devious plan! Using Juvia's cold and some really misleading words to get the two of them alone together. It was a plan worthy of the great Fairy Tail matchmaker herself. Mira had never felt more proud of the blonde.

**-x-**

Before Gray even really knew what he was doing, he found himself standing in front of Juvia's door. His feet had carried him all the way here on their own. What was he even supposed to do now that he was here? Should he go in? Maybe he shouldn't. But Juvia was all alone. _Someone _had to do _something_ for her. And it wasn't like anyone else was around.

He took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"C-come in." Was that Juvia's voice? It sounded really weak. Gray pushed open the door and stepped inside.

Juvia was in the bedroom, curled up in bed with the covers pulled up to her chin. She looked tired and her face was a bit red, but other than that, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with her. When she saw Gray, her eyes went wide and she pulled the blankets up over her face.

"G-Gray-sama…Juvia did not expect you to come," she mumbled. Lucy had insisted that, if Juvia went right home instead of back to the guild, Gray would show up in less than an hour, but Juvia hadn't been completely convinced. She smiled into the blankets. "Juvia is sorry she cannot be a very good host right now. But Gray-sama is welcome to-achoo!" Gray jumped in surprise.

"Juvia are you…?"

"Juvia has a cold." She sneezed again.

"Ah seriously…" Gray sunk to the floor, sighing loudly. "And Lucy made it sound like…"

"Lucy didn't mean anything bad! Lucy only wanted to-"

"I know what she was trying to do." Gray cut her off. Lucy hadn't just been doing this for Juvia. She had seen through him too. It could be worse, he supposed. At least she had the decency not to announce anything to the whole guild. Especially the flame brain. He might even consider thanking her for it later. "In any case, you need anything? Since I'm here."

"N-no." Juvia shook her head. Her face grew even redder as she blushed. "Juvia is just happy that Gray-sama came. Why did Gray-sama come?" Just because he was there didn't mean that he liked her. Perhaps it was just concern for a fellow guild member.

"Because…" How was Gray supposed to answer that? 'Because I was scared that something terrible had happened to you and that I wouldn't be able to see you again?' He would never say that. Even if it was true. 'Because I hated the thought of you being left alone while you were hurt?' No, that wouldn't do either. He'd have to settle for something else. "I was worried about you." That worked too.

"Worried?"

"Of course." Juvia thought he wouldn't be worried about her? Why? Just because he was an ice mage didn't mean he was that cold. "The guild's just not the same without you."

"Gray-sama is very kind to his guildmates." Juvia nodded. She looked almost dejected. Gray couldn't stand it anymore. He couldn't just let her be this sad. Especially when she was sick.

"I wouldn't come running like this for just anyone, you know." Juvia glanced at him, almost barely hoping that this conversation was going somewhere good. Gray, however, had no idea where this conversation was going. He was just sort of speaking without thinking and hoping that he could get his feelings across without totally humiliating himself. "I…that's…about you…you're really sp-special, Juvia." Nope, he was definitely not coming out of this with his pride. He might get the girl though, so at least there was that.

"Eh?" Juvia blushed even harder, her fever rising.

"I've kind of taken you for granted in the past, but you do mean a lot to me. I'm just sorry that it took me this long to figure everything out." If just thinking something might possibly have happened to her sent him into that much of a panic, then there was no way he could deny his feelings for Juvia any longer.

"Gray-sama doesn't need to say anymore. Juvia understands. Juvia's heart might burst if Gray-sama continues." Rather than her heart, it looked like her head was about to explode. Gray could swear there was steam coming off of it. He reached down and put his hand on her forehead.

"Whoa!" He withdrew his hand instantly. Juvia's fever, likely fueled by Gray's presence, was unnaturally high. "Are you okay?" He could kick himself for asking that. Of course she wasn't okay. If her head was that hot, there's no way she could be fine.

"Gray-sama's hand feels so cool." Juvia mumbled, looking away. Gray was an ice mage, so of course his hand was cold. He set it back on her forehead, watching the girl settle back into her bed. She had averted her gaze, but still stole a glance at Gray every now and then.

"You can stop stalking me now, okay?"

"What?" Gray's comment had caught Juvia off guard.

"I mean, you don't have to sneak around. If you want to go somewhere or whatever, just ask, okay?" Gray was extremely grateful that they were alone at the moment. If anyone else heard this conversation, he would just die.

"So…Juvia can go on a date with Gray-sama?"

"Y-yeah, if you want." Juvia smiled. It was probably the happiest she'd looked since someone in the guild started a secret auction on all Gray's lost clothing.

Without thinking, Gray leaned down, moving to kiss the blue-haired girl. When Juvia realized what he was doing, her eyes went wide. This was it. This was what she had been dreaming of since they first met, during the battle with Phantom Lord. But…

Just before Gray's lips met hers, Juvia yanked the blankets up over the lower half of her face. Gray pulled back, looking confused and more than a little embarrassed.

"It's…it's not that Juvia doesn't want to k-kiss Gray-sama," she mumbled into the covers, blushing at the thought. "But if Gray-sama kissed Juvia right now, then he would get sick too. And Juvia couldn't do that." Gray laughed. He slid his hand up to the top of her head and placed his lips against her forehead.

"Then this should do for now."

"Gray-sama's lips are cold too." She smiled. "It feels nice."

The two sat there in silence for a long while, Gray's hand still on her head, when…

"N-not that Juvia minds, but…did Gray-sama intend to come here without his clothes?"

"What?" Gray looked down. He was wearing just his boxers. He could have sworn that he left wearing a jacket and everything. "Ah seriously! Not again!"

**-x-**

A few days later, Lucy was standing in front of the job request board, trying to decide on a good mission. Now that she had paid her rent for the month, it was time to start saving up for next month. She was starting to think that she needed better money management skills…

She had narrowed the choice down to three potential jobs when, out of nowhere, someone barreled into her, throwing their arms around her shoulders.

"Juvia?" This was the first Lucy had seen of the water mage since the end of their job together. "Are you feeling better now?"

"Juvia is wonderful!" The girl stepped back, beaming. "And Juvia is going on a date with Gray-sama tomorrow!"

"Really?!" Lucy grabbed the girl's hands. "Way to go, girl!"

"Lucy-san's plan worked perfectly!" Juvia jumped in excitement. "So, to thank Lucy-san, Juvia will help her as well."

"Help? With what?" Lucy wasn't sure she liked the devious look on Juvia's face. Juvia, however, did not answer. Instead, she merely glanced in the direction of a certain fire mage in the back of the guild. "Oh no…that…that really isn't necessary Juvia…"

"But Lucy-san helped Juvia with her love, so Juvia will help Lucy-san with hers!" She seemed quite sure of this for someone who, up until a few days ago, was certain that Lucy was in love with Gray.

"I never said that I…" Lucy sighed. "Fine, what's your plan?"

**-x-**

_Final Note:__ How in the world did this story end up so long? Even though I wrote this, I have no idea. It did take me forever to write, though… Romance has always been difficult since I have __absolutely no__ little experience in that area of life.  
I may or may not being considering writing more one-shots, so if you lovely readers would be so kind as to write a review and let me know what you did or didn't like, I would really appreciate it. Knowing what you all want to read would really help me with writing more in the future.  
So yeah, review, follow, favorite, and I really hope that you liked this. I had fun writing it. And I'll see y'all around!_

_With love, IrisRaylene_


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